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It’s Blue and it’s new (Read 1686 times)
Phantom Rider
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It’s Blue and it’s new
Oct 6th, 2017, 7:56pm
 
and it has 2 wheels
 
and it’s front wheel drive
 
And it has a fastest bike money back guarantee  
 
Yep and it’s in my garage  
 
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2017 Cruzbike V20
2019 ICE VTX Black
SOLD - 2011 GT Karakorem 1.0 - 2012 Lightning Phantom II - 2004 Lightning P38 2013 Rans Rifle 2014 Catrike 700 - 2014 Bacchetta CA2
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jrob_bent
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Re: It’s Blue and it’s new
Reply #1 - Oct 6th, 2017, 9:39pm
 
I saw the picture on the Cruzbike forum in front of Playtri. Great looking ride Joe. I hope you enjoy it. I should be moving into my house in North Richland Hills in the next month. Playtri on North Tarrant is only 7 miles away. Maybe I can make it over there on one of their rides and see that beauty up close. I am envious for sure!
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I get about 15 miles per honey bun!
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CruzbikeChris




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Re: It’s Blue and it’s new
Reply #2 - Oct 7th, 2017, 7:15am
 
I want to test ride it please!
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Chris

2013 Cruzbike Silvio 2.1
2017 Cannondale Trail 5 for the off road times
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jayg
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Re: It’s Blue and it’s new
Reply #3 - Oct 7th, 2017, 5:31pm
 
Congrats, Joe. How about posting a photo of the bike on this Forum? Can't view the one on the Cruzbike Forum without joining and signing in. Looking forward to your ride reports.
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Phantom Rider
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Re: It’s Blue and it’s new
Reply #4 - Oct 8th, 2017, 2:58pm
 
Quote from jayg on Oct 7th, 2017, 5:31pm:
Congrats, Joe. How about posting a photo of the bike on this Forum? Can't view the one on the Cruzbike Forum without joining and signing in. Looking forward to your ride reports.

 
How do you post photos here since photo bucket wants $$$
 
Here is the post from today on the Cruzbike forum  
 
 Let’s talk about rides 3&4 and a few early observations
 
Ride 3 - disaster
 
This was to be the first real road ride on the bike, even though I had 2 earlier rides that were, 5 and 15 miles in length. I have a 40 mile route that I routinely ride with lots of rollers on it, one nice climb 11% and some flats mixed in. I enjoy this route because after the first 5 miles and the last 3 miles it’s pretty open country road. Upon leaving I discovered road construction had the route closed so I zigged and zagged to get to the part I like, no big deal just another day on the bike. The bike and I were getting along well when I downshifted after a good descent 35 mph braking to make a turn when I heard pop, clang clang clang and no power to the pedals. I got the bike stopped and quickly observed my chain dangling from the crank. Crud, busted chain, upon observation I discovered where the extra links were added there was only one quick link and the other end had a mangled link. It was obvious they did not use a quick link on both ends but rather joined the chain using the pin. After calling my wife, waking her up and getting the 7th degree she agreed to come get me. Some 45 minutes later she called to let me know she was leaving but had no idea how to get to where I was. I dropped a pin to her phone with my location and told her to call me when she left the house and I would watch her on my phone to make sure she could get to me. Well after she got lost making a wrong turn we finally go her on track and headed to me. Some 2 hours later I had the bike loaded in the rack, apologizing profusely and asking what she would like for breakfast. Finally got home and I took the bike back to the shop where I got help building it. The shop owner immediately rectified the situation, apologized and sent me on my way at no cost. So ride #3 was truly a bust. I was enjoying the bike and still acclimating until...
 
Ride #4
 
This time I decided to take a route that I ride a couple times a week after work, this would give me a pretty good comparison. Following Ratz guidance I did my 5 minutes of figure 8’s and headed out. This route doesn’t have a great deal of climbing on it but there are two pretty good hills and some flats and some deceiving 2% grades of half a mile or so. No issues today aside from a dropped chain when going from the 52 to the 36 and trying to downshift the RD at the same time, lesson learned. Today’s ride was quite pleasant and after comparing the statistics to my last ride on this route I found the speed (18mph)to match the previous ride, my cadence was 1 rpm less(86) this time and the average HR was 20 BPM less this time. I don’t use a power meter so can’t really say what the difference in output was but don’t feel that I was working as hard as normal.  
 
Some early observations, I now have 90 miles on the V after riding the CA2 for 18,000 Miles.
 
I think the seat on the CA2 is much more comfortable, it seems to wrap around me better and has some curvature to the back that is missing on the V.
 
The V produces more road noise than the CA2, I assume it’s the frame difference as I’m riding the same carbon wheels on b0th bikes.
 
Climbing - the jury is still out on this one, need more time on the V to really pass judgement.
 
After only 4 rides on the V and to match the previous ride on the same route with the CA2 I think the V just might prove to be faster after all. Comfort is just as important as speed to me, after all I ride for fun and will never be like the racers and at 60 years old I am ok with that. I,look forward to more miles and see how my body adapts before placing final judgement on the bike, after all I rode the CA2 for 3 years.
 
I will say the opinions I keep reading on BROL about how hard this bike is to ride do not apply to me, I followed the rules thanks to CruzbikeChris for beating that into my head and the fact the Perez Clamp wasn’t initially in the boxSmiley. I still have more acclimating to do and I know that. I haven’t ridden anything but bar end shifters so switching to brifters is much different, riding with a headrest is driving me crazy. You see pony tails and headrest don’t mix well and the pony tail ain’t leaving!  
 
I have one question - is there a standard location that I should start with placing the brifters, I have placed mine to far back toward me and that isn’t comfortable to shift, brake or just ride. Any recommendations would be appreciated and thanks to all for the encouragement and feedback.
 
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2017 Cruzbike V20
2019 ICE VTX Black
SOLD - 2011 GT Karakorem 1.0 - 2012 Lightning Phantom II - 2004 Lightning P38 2013 Rans Rifle 2014 Catrike 700 - 2014 Bacchetta CA2
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jayg
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Re: It’s Blue and it’s new
Reply #5 - Oct 8th, 2017, 5:07pm
 
I refused Photobucket's ransom demand and switched to Imgur. It's free and faster than Photobucket. Great for posting photos on this Forum.  
 
Glad the bike is working for you. I think I would have had a better experience with my Silvio, if I had had nearby country roads to ride it on, because pedal steer was negligible at 18 mph. It was a bear to ride at low speeds on crowded trails. It's languishing in my garage, waiting for the "T-Trike" attachment to become available. Hope it happens while I'm still able to ride.  Cheesy
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Phantom Rider
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Re: It’s Blue and it’s new
Reply #6 - Oct 8th, 2017, 5:44pm
 
Here’s the build
 
2018 Vendetta v20 Blue frame
Stock Carbon seat
Ventisit pad
Stock headrest and Perez Clamp (major improvement over the scissor clamp)
Moved my Reynolds CF wheels from the CA2
Moved Enduro XD-15 Ceramic BB from the CA2
Moved my 52\36 q rings over with the 150mm sram force cranks
Installed sram red XG1190 11/32 cassette
Installed sram red Etap
Stock sram red chain for now + 5 links from another chain...crud still gotta buy 2 chains
FSA Gossmer Pro rim brakes because my wheels aren’t disk ready but the frame is...so that’s on the upgrade list  
Lizard skin bar tape Blue of course  
CF bottle cage on the boom for now
Zefal spy mirrors(2)
 
I need to weigh this thing and see just what the difference is between it and the CA2
 
The CA2 has been returned to stock with the exception of the Sram XO 10sp type 2 RD and TT500 shifters  
 
I’ll try to get a pic posted, in the interim PM me your email address and I send you a couple pics.
 
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2017 Cruzbike V20
2019 ICE VTX Black
SOLD - 2011 GT Karakorem 1.0 - 2012 Lightning Phantom II - 2004 Lightning P38 2013 Rans Rifle 2014 Catrike 700 - 2014 Bacchetta CA2
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